Wednesday, May 4, 2011

For years I've been waiting for the right opportunity to take a class in viking knitting--and a few weeks ago the time was finally right!

Working with wire can be really challenging to learn, but the finished pieces are so much fun to wear.

This technique does in fact create a knitted wire tube, but the process of creating it is counterintuitive.

The work is done in the opposite direction as you normally work with knitting needles. That is, the "stitches" are worked from the top down by weaving the wire underneath the previous round.

It really is more of a weaving technique, but the end result produces a "fabric" of twisted knit stitches that is very durable.

Here the ensemble that went on my arm to the office today. It's a lot of fun putting different textures together. I made the top bracelet using an old 2-ply braiding technique and the middle one is a bead crochet rope bangle.

Kitty, for regular knitting using knitting needles with wire, I've read (and can confirm) that the best gauge to use is size 28, 30 or even smaller. The size 24 gauge works well for vikingknitting that will get drawn down to a smaller size, but for regular knitting with needles, I'd go with a finer gauge wire.

I love your Viking knit bracelet. I'm into it lately. I like the way you only did half of the bracelet and incorporated coordinating beads. The beads are looking great with the color of the wire. Did you use artistic wire or colored wire? Dita from http://www.alankarshilpa.etsy.com

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